Mistress, Inc. (23 page)

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Authors: Niobia Bryant

BOOK: Mistress, Inc.
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Jessa forced herself to push those thoughts aside as she filled her mouth with wine and savored the flavor and aroma before swallowing it gently.
Her publicity events were becoming few and far between. Her book was almost done, but there was no guarantee anyone would want to read her story when it dropped later in the year. The modeling agency was still interested, but Jessa was still on the fence about it. She hadn’t heard from Myra in over two weeks—a first since they first started working together. And in truth, it didn’t bother her. Delaney made her yearn for her privacy again.
The idea she had for a new business was CRAZY and she knew that, but she saw firsthand that there was a need for such a thing.
Business was all about supply and motherfucking demand.
Jessa took another sip just as her phone rang. She reached for the cordless. Someone from the security gate. “Yes?”
“Keegan Connor is at the gate.”
“Let her in. Thank you.” Jessa dropped the phone in the chair and rose to pour another glass of wine, which she carried to the front door. She sat one of the glasses on the floor to unlock the door and then picked it up again just as Keegan walked through the door.
Jessa handed her the glass.
“Good,” Keegan said, immediately taking a sip. “Chardonnay?”
“Of course,” Jessa assured her as she led her back to the living room.
“Great.”
“I want to run something by you,” Jessa said, reclaiming her seat as Keegan took the one directly across from her.
“I want to run a business with hired mistresses who help wives catch their husbands cheating.” Jessa stood up to retrieve the entire bottle of wine to replenish their goblets.
Keegan frowned. “Like prostitutes, sugar?”
“
Hell
no,” Jessa balked. “I’m not a pimp selling ass. No sex involved. Just pretty women—
or men
—to reel him in just enough to show his hand or that he’s willing or that his ass is not to be trusted.”
“Side note: You’re cursing again?” Keegan asked.
Jessa waved her hand dismissively. “I’m stressed the fuck out and sometimes it takes a well-placed “fuck you” to get your point across. God understands.”
“Ha!”
“Hell, I was thinking it, so I might as well say it. You can’t fake it with God.”
Keegan just smiled into her goblet as she took another sip.
“
An-y-way
... what do you think?”
“To be honest, when I wanted to catch the wandering dick ex-husband of mine, something like this would have been right up my alley, darling,” Keegan admitted.
Jessa gazed out the window at the lit homes of Richmond Hills. She thought of all the wives who clamored around her door the day after she announced that one of her neighbor’s husbands was actively pursuing her.
“There are so many women with doubts about their husbands who just want to know if the man they love is to be trusted.”
Keegan looked thoughtful.
“And who better than a former mistress to help them offer their husband Eve’s apple?” Jessa asked, her voice soft but still filled with excitement.
“You’re serious about this?” Keegan asked, moving to sit up on the edge of her seat as if she was being pulled into Jessa’s words.
Jessa settled back in her chair and crossed her legs. “I think so. And what better way to fix the negative karma of being a mistress than to help wives catch their own cheating husbands.”
Keegan settled back in her chair and flipped her red hair behind her shoulder as she eyed her friend. “I want in, sugar,” she said.
Jessa arched a brow. “What? Why? You have a business.”
Keegan arched a dyed red brow. “I need some of that good karma too, and maybe the next man I marry won’t live life like he ain’t used to pussy.”
Jessa felt all of her red trust flags waving around her. She dampened the appearance of her excitement. She was regretting telling Keegan about it. Big time. “First, I have to see what’s going on with Eric’s parents. Today they received their confirmation that their son is indeed the daddy like I said,” Jessa said, picking up the remote to swivel and turn on the flat-screen television over the fireplace.
An image of the nursery filled the screen. Delaney was sleeping peacefully.
“Nanny cam?” Keegan asked.
“Of course.” Jessa switched to another view and found Yari in her own room reading a book as she sat in the windowsill with the baby monitor beside her.
“I hate that she’s sleeping because I’m sure going to wake her for some kisses before I leave here tonight,” Keegan said.
“Oh no. Night duty is all mine, you kooky redheaded bitch. Don’t you do it,” Jessa warned her playfully.
Keegan laughed as she refilled her glass.
“If you keep drinking, your ass is not going anywhere.”
Keegan shrugged. “We can put on our jammies and talk about Henry all night.”
“Henry?” Jessa balked. “You’re confused. It’s Tyson the captain that was ...
blessed.
”
“I’m know exactly whom I’m talking about. Henry is the one I heard about all this week. Henry is mad. I didn’t know Henry wanted to marry me. You really think Henry loves me? I wonder what Henry would say about that?” Keegan mimicked her. “Henry, Henry. Henry. Not Tyson. Not once. Haven’t heard a peep out of you about Tyson or his good dick.”
True. Very true.
“Well, I don’t have time for either one. So fuck them both right about now.”
Keegan rolled her eyes. “Whatever, you delusional weave-wearing bitch.”
Jessa ran her fingers through her hair. “This is
not
a weave.”
“Yeah, okay, honey bunch, and my pussy hairs ain’t blond either.”
Jessa and Keegan laughed at that.
“I did not need the visual!”
“Oh, right now it’s as bald as your baby’s,” Keegan drawled. “I swear.”
Jessa laughed until tears filled her eyes. “Oh, Keegan, thank you for coming over. I needed a good laugh,” Jessa admitted.
Keegan shook her head. “What you need is a good business partner,” she said, her eyes serious. “Come on, darling, two brains and pussies are better than one.”
Jessa eyed her as Keegan extended her goblet into the air between them.
Maybe I should keep her close since I opened my big mouth about the idea.
“Okay,
if
I decide to go forward and
if
the Halls do not sue me for custody, then I will
think
about starting this business with you as an
investor,”
Jessa said.
“Sounds like a plan, sugar,” Keegan said. “And your ex-friend across the way gave you the perfect name.”
Jessa knew exactly what Keegan was referring to. “Isn’t that tacky, though?”
“No, it fits perfectly.”
Jessa finally raised her glass in toast as well. “Okay, then here’s to Mistress, Inc.,” she said before they touched glasses.
Ding.
 
The next morning, Jessa skipped church; she was not ready to face Henry. Although he never made his feelings clear, she knew him seeing her getting sexed—and well—by Tyson had to have hurt him. Yari had the day off, Keegan had already headed home, and Jessa was lounging in bed rereading the last couple of chapters of her book to reclaim the rhythm and flow to finish. Delaney slept on the bed beside her and the house was quiet as she read.
Hindsight is 20/20.
I know now more than ever how true that is. But it is too late for regrets and what-ifs. The time to make different—better—decisions has passed.
It’s ironic how the thought of stepping forward into my future without my man, my lover, my everything had been hurtful. Scary. Disappointing.
I cannot help but recognize that I drove the car that led my life down this road. I was the maker of my own destiny. The ruler of the domain of my life. Keeper of my pussy.
Now?
Now I know that welcoming him into my life and my bed was the biggest mistake ...
A cold shiver passed over Jessa’s body as she looked away from the page. She had written her actual thoughts up until the moment Eric tried to choke her to death. She remembered the night with vivid clarity.
Setting the manuscript aside, Jessa lay on the bed on her side and lightly rubbed Delaney’s back. As she had many times since she discovered she was pregnant, she wondered what the future held for a child born to a mother who was almost killed by her father.
“I will do right by you. I swear. I will make
everything
right,” Jessa promised in a whisper.
Brrrrnnnggg ...
Jessa picked up her cordless phone. “Yes?”
“Mr. and Mrs. Hall at the security gate for you.”
Jessa sat up straight in bed. “No. Hell no,” she said.
Click.
Jessa dialed her attorney Lincoln’s cell phone number. It went straight to voice mail. “Shit,” she swore.
Do they have a court order or something? What the fuck do they want?
Jessa tried Lincoln’s number again. And again. And again. “Okay, this motherfucker is so fired,” she snapped, pacing as her heart pounded.
I hate this shit. I hate it.
Ding-dong. Ding-dong. Ding-dong.
Jessa called the security gate.
“Yes, Ms. Bell?”
“Logan. My last name is Logan,” Jessa snapped. “Did you just let the Halls in?”
“No, Ms. Bell—uh, Logan. They called Ms. Hall and she told me to let them in.”
“Were they alone? No police?”
“No, just them.”
Click.
Jessa eased Delaney up and hurried her into her crib in the nursery. She turned on the baby monitor before she headed down the stairs. She looked out the peephole of the front door and there they stood. Eric Hall and his wife. She looked around them.
She just knew Jaime was somewhere smiling, thinking she was clever.
Ding-dong. Ding-dong. Ding-dong.
Jessa grabbed her keys and slid them in her pocket before she opened the door and stepped out, closing the door behind her and forcing them to step back.
“Is this type of behavior really necessary, Jessa?” Mr. Hall asked, the lines in his face even more pronounced as he frowned down at her.
“What do you want? To insult me again? To blame me for Eric’s death again? To disrespect my home again?” Jessa asked them, glaring at Mrs. Hall standing there with her mouth pressed into a flat line.
“No, we would like to see our grandchild,” he said, before giving his wife a stern eye.
Mrs. Hall’s hands gripped the handle of her straw bag as she looked in Jessa’s direction without really focusing her eyes on her. “Our son is dead and we will never see him again. He was our only child. And now God has blessed us with a grandchild by him, and I am asking you to please let me just hold my grandbaby one time,” she said, finally looking at Jessa.
“Please.”
Jessa shook her head as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Are you going to pursue a custody battle for her? Are you still planning to try and take
my
baby from me?” she asked.
Mrs. Hall opened her mouth.
“No,” Mr. Hall said smoothly. “We have discovered that our rights are very limited and it’s of our best interest to call a truce so that you allow us some involvement in her life.”
Jessa still shook her head. “And how do I know that is true?”
Mr. Hall slid his hands into the pockets of his black slacks as he eyed her. “Jessa, our son is dead; you have his daughter. Do you have any empathy for how we feel?”
No. Fuck y’all.
But Jessa turned and unlocked the front door, allowing them to enter. Everything in her screamed not to do it. “Stay here ... please,” she said, before she jogged up the stairs to the nursery.
“I don’t want you around these people, Delaney,” Jessa said when she found her quietly lying in her crib watching the mobile with tiny stuffed animals turn above her. “But maybe if I let them come and see you, they won’t go digging around in my past. I know you don’t understand, but there are things I am ashamed of. Things I don’t want you or anyone else to know.”
Delaney cooed as Jessa picked her up in her arms. She pressed her face to her daughter’s as she carried her down the stairs.
“Oh my goodness, Eric, she’s beautiful,” Mrs. Hall sighed, coming forward to stand at the base of the stairs with her hands already open and ready to take her.
Jessa paused and pressed kisses to her daughter’s cheek before she forced herself to continue down the stairs. The toughest thing she ever did was place her daughter in the other woman’s arms and lead them into the living room for a chance to visit with their granddaughter.

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